I’ve been here for six years, moved laterally once, and my impression is that there are not many opportunities left to move upward. Even the people who try hard to stay visible with upper management do not seem to be getting anywhere. Why is this happening? You would think a company would want at least some percentage of skilled employees to progress, if only to keep them motivated and to ensure strong voices at the top. I know I may sound naive, but rationally this should be one of any company’s priorities.
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Hair pie and/or ba--s across the nose.
The old fashioned way.
this is every oil and gas major. the difference is that exxon is actually doing some work on developing future opportunities and everybody else seems to be selling irreplaceable chunks of theirselves to keep their dividend up
if you’re not investing in assets you’re not playing to win
dividend investors are in their 60s and a new generation is not going to replace. tech offers growth and dividends and that’s where youth goes. the whole idea of “whatever we need to keep the dividend” will be gone in 20 years because that wont be enough value to the new typical stock buyer. good luck to this industry then
i assume only exxon will be left and oil will be way less important for vehicles
The unspoken truth is that annual share buybacks and dividend maintenance has su-ked XOM dry ... there's nothing left in the bank account for most employees at year end, so the top 20% have to fight for scraps themselves.
40 years ago, Exxon was probably excessively employee-oriented. Today, it's excessively institutional shareholder oriented, and there's just nothing left for anyone other than the golden children.
The only way to move up as a minion is by sacrificing your family / taking a comp cut to move to a 3rd world country for a company that doesn’t care about you
No if you are a valuable employee with ethics and morals.
Can I give you a brutal truth? There are other people progressing and moving upwards in EM. It’s just not you.
Right as we speak there are EM colleagues getting double CL promotions, enjoying >15% annual increment for many years, flying on business class halfway around the world for low-stress workshops. Opportunities are there, but not for the minions.
I used to observe all these and not mind not being the chosen ones, as EM still offered stability to retirement and work life balance. Now, I’m preparing for exit this year, jobless and uncompetitive in my mid 40s (HC10 retrenchment last year). EM played me out. My advice is to seek your fortunes elsewhere.
@OP Best way to advance in pay and title is to job-hop.
@a7 happy new year
They don't want specialized talent. They want cheap generalists.
Only those tagged with high potential see real upward movement. Yes, it would be in the company’s interest to develop a wider talent pool, but current management has an elitist bias that blinds them to that.
Six years is enough to know. You are not in the club. At this point, what you have is just a job. The company has made no commitment to you at all so the odds are against riding that job all the way to retirement given the plan to outsource to lower cost countries. If you aspire to more than a mediocre job, time to look elsewhere. You are the only one who gives a damn so make it happen for yourself.
Happy New Year!
6 years? OK let me get the executive promotion ready for you.